This classy anthology of mostly original short stories from 21 renowned Windy City authors blends the blues, crime and Chicago, quite surpassing Akashic’s recent Chicago Noir . Several series heroes make appearances, including Sara Paretsky’s V.I. Warshawski, Kris Nelscott’s Smokey Dalton and J.A. Konrath’s Jack Daniels. Stuart M. Kaminsky takes a different tack with “Blue Note,” a fine story of a poker game where the real stakes are a mother’s fingers. Two authors with acclaimed recent debut novels, Jack Fredrickson (A Safe Place for Dying ) and Marcus Sakey (The Blade Itself ), demonstrate equal talent in short form. Best of all are Michael Allen Dymoch’s “A Shade of Blue” in which a man claims to have witnessed a murder that took place 30 years earlier; D.C. Brod’s “My Heroes Have Always Been Shortstops,” which measures the depths of a Cubs fan’s devotion; and Barb D’Amato’s “The Lower Wacker Hilton,” about the death of a homeless man in Chicago’s underworld. This impressive volume has soul, grit and plenty of high notes. (Oct.)